Season 8
by HermioneLuvsRon
Summary: Season 8 of Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Takes place the September after Chosen. R&R!
1. Introduction to Season 8

Introduction to Season 8

The first chapter, 8-1, takes place in September of 2003, after the summer. The scoobies have relocated to a place called Rally, in California – which is about the same size as Sunnydale was. Ironically, the hellmouth seems to have followed them. In fact, it did! The hellmouth is now located in the College. So who is doing what? Here is the list –

Buffy: Grieving after the loss of Spike, Buffy is looking for a man. However, not just any guy. The undead type. Which does not seem too hard, but for Buffy, it is. Making the nightly patrol, and finding plenty of vamps to slay (It is, after all – the hellmouth) She is very busy. Oh, did I mention the school? Buffy is back in college, a little school called Rally University. With that, and her part time job as a server, she is feeling a little – tired. Nevertheless, she will always have her friends to rely on.

Willow: Willow is also back in school with Buffy - Rally U, and she and Kennedy are going strong. She spends plenty of time with her friends, and has a part time job alongside Buffy. She loves Rally, and is super excited about her new life. Her new favorite pastime includes patrolling with Buffy and Kennedy.

Xander: Still sad about the loss of Anya. Found a job as a construction worker, currently working on new offices. He bought his own apartment, and rarely comes patrolling with Buffy and Willow. He has better things to do. Well, not really, but he cannot face them without thinking of Anya. Not just yet. His friends are supportive, however, and come over often. He thinks that he is getting better at acting happy, though. He hopes that eventually he will not have to act.

Dawn: Starting a new life in Rally is not going to be easy. Making new friends, starting at a new High School, and living in a new house will not be a picnic, but she is trying. She will be starting her junior year in High School next week, and is apprehensive about it. However, she has already made one friend, named Rachael. Maybe starting over will not be so bad.

Giles: Still Buffy's watcher, he gets a job at the High School library. Just like old times. The library mainly becomes the new hangout. Even though he sees the gang every day, and every night, he is still a little lonely.

Principal Wood: He got a job at the new High School. Guess the position! Yup, he is the official new Principal of George. D. High School. He and Faith are dating, and they are getting serious. The gang had an initiation ceremony where they added him, Faith, and Dawn in the official "group". Things are going good for him, and he is enjoying the new life.

Andrew: Still not a part of the group. However, he is determined to prove himself worthy. Still living with Buffy, he tries to do good deeds and help around the house. However, Buffy does not seem to notice. That is not going to stop him!

Faith: Working full time at a movie theatre, and patrolling nightly, she is doing good. She loves her relationship with Robin, and really believes that it will last.

So that is the gang! Where are the new hangouts in Rally? Well –

Buffy's house: Packed full as Buffy, Dawn, Willow, Kennedy, and Andrew live there. The house is sort of a "main base" for the scoobies.

The Library: Mostly every night they all meet there and talk about the current "big bad". Giles works here, so he is there almost 24/7.

The Cemetery: Where they go patrolling. Mostly, the people who patrol are Buffy, Willow, Faith, Dawn, and Kennedy. Occasionally, Xander, Robin or Giles come along.

So that is pretty much all you need to know! There will be 22 episodes, and therefore chapters. I will put them up as soon as they are ready!

HLR


	2. Episode 1, Savior

Disclaimer: I don't own any characters. Rats. 

Episode 1

**Savior**

WHACK! Buffy smacked the nearest vampire right in the face. She twirled around and ran towards the other vampire. The second vampire was fast, but not as fast as Buffy. She caught up to him with amazing speed and tripped him. Once he was on the ground, she jumped on top of him and pulled out her stake. She attempted to dust him, but just as she was about to turn him into a big pile of ugly dust, the first vamp jumped on top of her. She rolled over and leapt to her feet. In one swift movement, she ran over and staked the first vamp, and then rounded on the second, who was still lying on the ground in a heap. She smirked at him, and he gave her a look of pure hatred as she dusted him.

"That takes care of that." She said as she put back her stake and started the long walk home. Her back hurt a little from the first vamp jumping on her, but other than that, it was an easy slay. Buffy was almost to the exit of the cemetery as Faith jumped out of nowhere. Buffy jumped back in shock. "Faith! Don't scare me like that. What are you doing here, anyway? I thought you went out to the other cemetery." Buffy looked at her with wonder.

That was the bad thing about this new town called Rally. There wasn't just one cemetery like in Sunnydale. Not even two cemeteries! There were three. Three cemeteries. And all of them were full of bodies. Pretty bad for a town smaller than Sunnydale was.

"Chill, B! I already patrolled. Dusted three vamps. Just came to see if you needed any help." Faith said as she followed Buffy down the street to a little ally. "Wait, B… how many did you get?" Faith asked.

Buffy rolled her eyes. Faith liked to compare how they did. She liked to see who could get more vampires by the end of each month. And so far, Faith was winning. Again. She had even made a chart and kept it at her house, which kept score.

"Two." Replied Buffy, walking a little bit faster to get ahead of Faith. She didn't want to hear how much behind she was from Faith. She had already heard it.

"Ha!" I'm still beating you!" Said Faith, as she ran to catch up with Buffy.

Willow looked up at Dawn. "A little higher….more to your right…no, to far…little to your left…down a tad…there! Perfect." Willow said as she directed Dawn. They were still moving into their new house, and Dawn was putting up a new picture of the gang above the couch.

"Will, if you are done slave driving me, I'm going over to Rachel's house." Said Dawn, with a hint of sarcasm in her voice. She hopped down from the couch and gave Willow her famous, "Please-let-me-go-to-my-friends-house-look-at-me-I'm-so-cute" look.

"Who is this Rachel, anyway?" Willow asked, placing some pillows on the couch and trying her best to ignore Dawn's look. This, Willow thought, was very hard to do.

"She's this girl I met at that club, the JK, the other night." Answered Dawn, Holding the look while watching Willow straighten the picture above the couch. "And, hey! I thought you said that the picture was perfect!" She said, replacing the look with her other famous one, "How-dare-you-mess-with-me".

"Ah. The JK. Kennedy and I are going to go there tonight." Willow said, choosing to ignore the last comment. She hopped down from the couch and looked at Dawn with a smile on her face.

"Ooh. Like, on a date?" Dawn said, smiling back at Willow.

"Yes siree bob!" Replied Willow, an even bigger smile replacing the first. "We made plans to be there at eight, and oops, look at that, it's already seven forty five!" Willow said, looking at her watch and running up the stairs.

"Hey, you guys live in the same house, you know. You don't exactly have to make plans. Unless of course, you want to. In which case, I'll shut up now." Said Dawn happily, as she sat down on the couch.

Willow stopped to listen, and when she was done, she looked at Dawn with a smirk. Then she finished running up the stairs to her bedroom. Dawn sat down and thought about what her new school would be like. It would be starting in about a week, so she was starting to get nervous. Just as she started thinking about the teachers, the door opened and in walked Buffy, followed closely by Faith, who was taunting her.

"You know, B, I just think you got a little off your game after that battle. You just don't seem to be slaying them as well anymore. Me, on the other hand, I have found that my slaying has gotten better over the past three months. Because guess what? I am so kicking your butt at slaying; it's not even funny anymore. Not that I wasn't better than you before, but, frankly, it's been getting worse." Said Faith with a smirk as they walked in the door.

"Gee, Faith, do you think that you could be any more full of yourself?" Asked Buffy in a sarcastic tone. She set down her stake on the new table in the entryway and hung up her coat in the closet. Faith did the same, all the while talking about how much better she was than Buffy at slaying.

"Hey guys! How'd the slaying go? Get any big bads? Dust any vamps? Meet any creatures? See any ghosts? Can I go to Rachel's house?" Dawn asked quickly, trying to throw the last question out fast.

"That would be a no, yes, yes, a big fat no, and who is Rachel?" Buffy asked, catching on quickly to the last question.

"She's this girl I met at JK the other night. Her parents are nice, and she is my age. Please, can I go?" She asked Buffy.

"Where does she live?"

"Right down the road."

"Have any siblings?"

"No."

"Are you going to walk there?"

"That was the plan, yeah."

"Will you write down her address and her phone number if I say yes?"

"Totally."

"Fine, you can go."

"Ooh!" Dawn squealed excitedly. "I love you, Buffy! Thank you so much!" She ran upstairs to get her things right as Willow and Kennedy came down, holding hands and talking.

"Where are you two going?" Buffy asked, smiling. She walked up to them and they smiled back.

"We're going to JK. Haven't been there yet, heard it's the new Bronze." Replied Willow, looking excitedly at Kennedy, who gave her the same look back.

"Well, it looks like it's just you, me, and Andrew, Faith." She said, turning to look at Faith, who was now eating ice cream from the box with a fork. Buffy glared at her, and Faith said "What? I'm hungry. Oh, don't give me that look. Go do that to Andrew." Buffy rolled her eyes. She walked up the stairs and called, "Dawn, are you ready?"

"Ready, sis." Dawn answered, running down the hall. "Here is her number and her address." She said, handing Buffy a slip of paper with messy handwriting on it.

"Alright. I love you, be careful, and if you see a vampire, what do you do?" Asked Buffy, with a serious look on her face.

Dawn rolled her eyes. "I call you." She replied, starting to walk down the stairs.

"Good. Remember, we don't know too much about this town, yet. We only moved here a month ago, so be careful." Said Buffy, and she gave Dawn a kiss.

"Avoid vampires. Check. Be careful. Check. Talk to strangers. Check." Dawn said with major sarcasm. "Kidding, kidding!" She said as she saw the look on Buffy's face. "Love you. Got it. Now let me go." She said her eyes wide.

"Fine. Love you, bye!" Said Buffy as Dawn walked out of the house and into the dark, cool evening. "This is going to be a great night." Buffy thought. She walked to the couch and thought of Spike. How she missed him. How she loved him. How incredibly not here he was.

Xander rolled over in bed. He looked at his alarm clock. It read 6:15 pm. Not nearly early enough to go to bed. For regular people, that was. He contemplated calling Buffy, but he just wasn't up for it. Not tonight. He rolled back to his position, and tried to fall asleep. No such luck.

The hurt that he felt, the pain, it was enormous. He knew that he should be proud of her, for saving Andrew like that. But why? Andrew could have died, and Xander would not care. But Anya? They had just gotten back together. What he felt when Andrew told him, was indescribable. Still, he had managed to hold it together. Until he go to Rally. He thought it would be better, moving here. Getting rid of the memories that reminded him constantly. Of course, they were already gone, because of Sunnydale being a pancake, but he found himself missing the memories. And that? That was the hard part.

Buffy was sitting on the couch watching "Whose line is it anyway?" When she heard the door slam. She hopped off the couch and ran to the kitchen. Willow was holding Kennedy, who looked like she had a broken nose. Blood was pouring out from her nose as Willow ran to the table and laid her there. "What happened, Will?" Buffy asked as she raced over to the sink to get a wet rag.

"Buffy, I think we have our first Big Bad of Rally. It knocked Kennedy out when we were walking to the car from JK. One hit, that is all it took. That's all it took to know her out and, it looks like, break her nose." Said Willow as she put a coat under Kennedy's head. She looked terrified.

"Will, it's going to be ok, it doesn't look like she will be out for much longer. What was this thing? I mean, what did it look like?" Asked Buffy, as she tried to stop the bleeding that was now coming more heavily.

"Buffy, that's the thing. I mean, this...this thing, it was like…Buffy, It looked like a kid. And it had this strange, glowing mark on the back of its clothes."

"You're sure? No, I cannot find anything… Wait. Here's something…" Said Giles as he talked to Buffy on the phone, the same time as trying to research a demon that looked like a kid. "It's called a Trog Demon, and they look like little kids. However, they have the strength of three vampires, and the brains of a scientist. Ooh, they are also very cute." Finished Giles, looking at a picture of them. "Oh, Buffy, the only way to kill it is by surprise. It's too smart to fight. To strong to fight. Yes, goodbye." Said Giles, putting down the library phone.

Buffy packed her bag full of weapons. "Willow, where did you say that this…thing…attacked you? Asked Buffy as she stood up. Willow was watching over Kennedy, who had just woken up. "Right to the left of JK." She said.

"Thanks." Said Buffy, walking out the door.

"Oh, and Buffy!" Called Willow.

"What?"

"Be careful. This thing is strong."

"Don't worry, Will. I have a plan."

And with that, Buffy closed the door and set out to find, and kill, this demon.

Xander finally got out of bed. But just to go to the bathroom. While he was in there, he was thinking about Buffy and Willow. He remembered Willow inviting him to go to the JK with her and Kennedy tonight. He had lied and told them he would think about it, when all he really did was forget about it. But now, he was in a good mood. That happened. One moment he was drowning in grief, the next he was ready for anything. He decided to go meet them at JK. He got on some clean clothes (He had a lot of these, seeing as he basically got up, put on his work uniform, went to work, came home and put on his pajamas.) Yes, that was his life now. How sad. He threw on some shoes and walked out the door, forgetting to turn off the lights.

Buffy slowly crept up to JK. She could see the figure of a little girl, with her back turned towards Buffy. In the dark, Buffy could see the glowing mar that Willow had told her about. Buffy crept up and raised her axe. _Whish._ The little girl spun around in a split second and grabbed the axe from Buffy's hand with amazing strength. The girl kicked Buffy, and she went flying backwards, into a brick wall. Buffy groaned. This thing was strong. And Giles said that the only way to stop this thing was to surprise it. Boy was she screwed.

Buffy slowly got up, and the girl ran to her and choked her with the wooden part of the axe. She hit the girl in the stomach and the girl released the axe. Buffy made a move to hit her, but the girl twisted her arm. Buffy fell to the ground in pain. The girl slowly advanced to where Buffy was lying. Buffy was frozen. It hurt too much to move. The girl was over her now, and she raised the axe with a smirk on her face. Buffy tried to move, tried to scream, but she couldn't. Literally. She just couldn't. Buffy thought it had something to do with the girl. Maybe that was the girls' thing, to paralyze without touching. Buffy closed her eyes in defeat.

WHAM! The little girl fell to the ground, dead. Buffy opened her eyes and looked at what was happening. Xander was standing over her now, looking confused. Buffy looked to her left where the demon was now laying, dead.

"Xander, you…you saved me!" Said Buffy as Xander helped her off the ground.

"Ah, it was no big." He said, smiling.

"See, Xander, you should get out more often. You are very helpful, and we miss you so much. You should come to the next meeting, on Saturday." She hugged him.

"I will." Xander replied. And, as they embraced, he truly meant it.

**A/N: That was the first episode. Tell me what you think. Because it was the first episode, it was kinda short, I was just introducing the new town and stuff. But please, review! I will put up the next episode in like a week. Thanks!**

**HLR**


End file.
